o-THE-OTHER-WOMAN-facebookThough female centric comedies have been something of a triumph of late, with the likes of Bridesmaids illuminating the big screen and TV series such as Girls doing much of the same on the smaller one, regrettably Nick Cassavetes’ The Other Woman misfires, playing up to the notion of empowerment in an all too contrived, and cliched fashion.

Cameron Diaz plays Carly, a successful lawyer who starts to fall for the handsome businessman Mark (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). However when hoping to surprise him at his home, she discovers he has a wife, Kate (Leslie Mann), who is blissfully unaware of her husband’s misdemeanours. As the pair discover they are both being cheated on – they join forces to seek revenge on the arrogant adulterer. Then they meet Amber (Kate Upton), and discover they aren’t even the only ones…

The Other Woman is effectively just one idea stretched out into an elongated feature, without the legs to quite sustain such a running time. While there are some brilliantly funny moments scattered around, we find out about the affair too soon into proceedings, as the entire middle section is then filled with our protagonists plotting their revenge, and it becomes somewhat tiring. Fortunately for Cassavetes and writer Melissa Stack, we do remain on board until the bitter end, managing to not let the tedium get the better of us, given the inevitability of the finale where we anticipate Mark’s comeuppance. As a distinctively detestable figure, it’s something of an incentive to carry on.

Coster-Waldau plays a womanising, cheating swine with such conviction, embellishing upon roles he has played in the likes of Headhunters and Game of Thrones, mastering that steady blend between charm and slimy promiscuity.As a result his casting is spot-on, as not only is he an accomplished actor, but you look desperately forward to his demise. Meanwhile, while much of the press surrounding this picture is aimed in the direction of Diaz, and newcomer Upton – it’s Mann who completely steals the show. She’s brilliantly erratic, and while it can a little overbearing in parts, she’s not only the funniest of the trio, but the most vulnerable and empathetic. As for Upton’s fledging career in acting, well, the less said the better.

Though the laughs are somewhat cheap, The Other Woman remains an easy to indulge in comedy, if a little conventional. The revenge they scheme epitomises such a sentiment, as the three girls antagonise their victim by slipping laxatives into his drink. Really? It’s the most cliched, go-to comeback we see in cinema. If the filmmakers think we’re easily pleased to the extent that we simply laugh at the sounds of farts and pooing, then they really need to wise up. Okay, okay, it is a little bit funny.

[Rating:2/5]